Piano Somatics
an innovative and artistic approach to piano technique for the 21st century
an innovative and artistic approach to piano technique for the 21st century
The Piano Somatics Institute takes place in several European countries through the winter,
and in North America over the summer months.
The rationale underpinning
somatic piano technique.
A schematic diagram outlining the scope of Piano Somatics.
Enhancing weight technique with the anti-gravity function.
Become a Certified
Piano Somatics Practitioner.
of the Institute
Forging a new approach to piano technique since the 1970's, Alan Fraser is still researching these questions in depth, bringing new material and insights to the Institute each successive year.
students as well
It was Christine's influence that first brought the Piano Somatics Institute into being. She came down to New York City for a lesson with Alan in 2009, they got to talking, and the first institute at Smith College in 2011 was the result. Christine does a stellar job of coordinating every detail of the U Mass Institute, and maintains a thriving teaching practice at her home studio on Forbes Avenue in Northampton through the year. She is an Alexander Technique teacher who gets excited at the multiple possibilities for "cross-fertilization" between Alexander, Feldenkrais Method and Alan's Craft of Piano Method. She finds her teaching has not so much improved as transformed her students' playing since she began working with Alan.
du son perdu
Yveline first discovered Alan Fraser in 2010, and quickly came to believe that his teaching represents an "epistemological rupture" with previous schools. She has translated three of his books (Honing the Pianist Self-Image, All Thumbs, and Play Piano with the Whole Self) into French (Editions Delatour), and her indefatigable efforts to spread Alan Fraser's teaching in France have led to editions of his institute springing up in Paris and numerous other local centers throughout the country.
rocks
Nila first attended a Piano Somatics Institute in 2011, and has been using the approach to transform her Suzuki teaching. She finds the two systems dovetail well, and she is happy to offer her students this further refinement of the Suzuki wisdom. Nila is onsite coordinator for the Salt Lake City Institute which is actually held at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, a half an hour north of Salt Lake.
reign supreme
Kathy is Dean of Students and Faculty at the Concord Community Music School, and has an active career accompanying, teaching, and playing the organ in church on Sunday mornings. She has been attending the Piano Somatics Institute since 2012, and immediately noticed the impact Alan Fraser's teaching had on her own playing. She was quick to arrange for him to open a branch of the Institute in Concord, New Hampshire.
Music
Like Alan, Mirka is a concert pianist, pedagogue and Feldenkrais practitioner as well. She has collaborated with Alan for almost twenty years, inviting him to teach in her studio in Hamm and also conducting a long-standing exchange in Functional Integration. She performs in a duo with Takako Oishi.
klingt besser
Michael is a Feldenkrais practitioner and pianist who teaches at the Eitorf Music School, a half hour east of Cologne in Germany. He has translated Honing the Pianistic Self-Image into German (Stacccato Verlag), and has begun translating All Thumbs.
Our flagship institute established in 2011
Institutes in Hamm, Eitorf, Heidelberg, Stuttgart, Vussem and more...
Alan Fraser has held an Institute here every year since 2011.
The Institute in Overveen, annually since 2013.
Annually since 2013 at the Concord Community Music School
Vive la France, et vive l'Institut de somatiques de piano en France!